This year could be health IT startups' best year yet. As hospitals continue to seek out the best technologies to achieve success in a changing industry, health IT startups raked in record venture capital in 2013 and many have developed innovative products poised to shake up the market this coming year.
Below are five health IT startups to watch in 2014.
Improving communication between physicians: Cureatr
Cureatr is a secure, HIPAA-compliant care coordination platform that integrates with existing directory, scheduling and paging systems to improve communication and coordination of care among providers. Using the cloud-based app, clinicians can exchange messages and send information to other members of a care team, even to personnel at other hospitals or practices. The app is free and is available for iPhones, Android devices and on the web.
In May 2013, Cureatr graduated from the New York Digital Health Accelerator, and in October the company nabbed $5.7 million in venture capital funding.
Developed by a resident at New York City's Mount Sinai Medical Center in 2011, the app is being rolled out systemwide at Mount Sinai. The app is also being used at Albany (N.Y.) Medical Center and DaVita HealthCare Partners.
Making cancer care smarter: Flatiron Health
A data analytics platform tailored to oncology, Flatiron Health brings structured and unstructured patient data together and gives providers a comprehensive, longitudinal view of a patient's history. Having all this data in one place allows physicians to make evidence-based decisions about a patient's care.
The company was founded by two former Google employees and draws on their knowledge of data analytics. Flatiron Health is backed by Google Ventures and seven other venture capital firms. John Halamka, MD, CIO of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, is one of the company's advisers.
Automating pharmacy kit replenishing: KitCheck
A graduate of the Rock Health accelerator, KitCheck's cloud-based solution allows hospitals to automate the process of restocking pharmaceutical and other emergency kits after use by tracking which products in the kits have been used and which are likely to expire soon.
In February 2014, KitCheck announced a strategic partnership with Zebra Technologies to incorporate Zebra's cloud-based device management solution into KitCheck to further simplify remote provisioning.
KitCheck is being used by more than 30 hospitals across the country, including NYU Langone Medical Center in New York City, Caromont Regional Medical Center in Gastonia, N.C., UC Davis Medical Center in Sacramento and Boston Children's Hospital.
Bringing Google Glass into healthcare: Pristine
Pristine has built several HIPAA-compliant apps for Google Glass to allow the technology to be used in a healthcare setting. The EyeSight app allows physicians to connect with specialists to provide remote consults, using Google Glass to stream a feed of the patient to the consulting physician. Pristine Checklists projects clinical checklists in front of a clinician, allowing a clear view of the checklist without the clinician needing to turn away from the patient.
Rhode Island Hospital in Providence, the first hospital to use Google Glass in the emergency department, worked with Pristine to make the technology HIPAA-compliant.
Making patient data collection fun: Tonic Health
Tonic Health allows healthcare providers to create patient surveys, from intake forms to clinical trial questionnaires, and administer them either online or on an iPad. The data from the surveys is then available immediately to administrators, providing real-time, actionable information. The surveys are designed to be engaging and easy to use for patients of any literacy level, improving the quantity and quality of data received from patients.
Tonic Health is currently being used by some of the largest healthcare organizations in the country, including Oakland, Calif.-based Kaiser Permanente, UCLA Health System in Los Angeles, NewYork-Presbyterian in New York City, Partners HealthCare in Boston, Seattle Children's Hospital, Georgetown University Hospital in Washington, D.C., and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.
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